ARTICLES ABOUT DREW BLEDSOE BY DATE - PAGE 5

Drew Bledsoe has worn the Patriots'uniform for the last time. Five months ago, that would have been a stunning observation. Now, it's just an acknowledgment of the inevitable. No, the Patriots haven't made any official announcement. That's not their style. Or Bledsoe's.. While fuming privately, he has behaved with class and dignity since finding out from coach Bill Belichick in mid-November that the coach was reneging on his promise. Although Bledsoe had been medically cleared to play, Belichick decided Bledsoe wouldn't be allowed to compete for the chance to regain his starting job, which the coach had given to Tom Brady when Bledsoe was hospitalized with a chest injury sustained Sept.

The question about Dick Rehbein evoked a long and especially reflective response from Drew Bledsoe. The Patriots quarterback coach, a man dear to Bledsoe as mentor and friend, died of massive heart failure last summer, and the tribute grew more wistful with each passing second. "The way things are going," Bledsoe said softly, "makes you think the guy's watching over us ..." "Drewwww!" interrupted a voice, shattering the dignity of the moment. "About the quarterback controversy.

Their season unfolded like an overwrought work of fiction. The New England Patriots lost their first two games and were in turmoil when starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe was injured. Everything changed when anonymous reserve Tom Brady sparked the team to a playoff run while Bledsoe sat silently in the background. But in the most crucial game of the season, Bledsoe returned to the field Sunday when Brady got hurt and helped guide the Patriots to a 24-17 victory over the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.

He lay in a hospital bed for four days, a lung cavity bleeding his season dry. After that, he would stand on the Patriots sideline, first out of uniform and later under his familiar No.11. He was inactive for seven weeks and, in mid-November, he finally would be deemed active. Yet never did Drew Bledsoe do more than watch. Through a stunning regular season and one memorable playoff in the snow, 15 games in all, Bledsoe did not attempt a pass, did nothing more on game day than call heads or tails for the opening kickoff.

What does a defensive genius-turned-head coach want in his starting quarterback? A guy who doesn't already have bad habits, a guy he can mold. A guy who rarely makes a killer mistake but is never afraid to try to make the big play. A guy who is consistent. A guy who listens, works hard and even when he has done something reasonably well, asks how he could do it better. A guy who is always confident but never arrogant. A guy who will do whatever you tell him to do to win, whether it's throwing 85 passes in a game or none.

During the off-season, when he is more private citizen than public figure, Drew Bledsoe repairs with his wife and three sons to their spacious Montana cabin and lets his hair grow long. But when the season arrives, Bledsoe stays clean-shaven and gets a regular haircut. As the first player chosen in the 1993 draft and the public face of the Patriots for nearly nine years, Bledsoe has rarely needed to be schooled on the importance of projecting the proper image. Although the surprising Patriots (10-5)

I bought tickets so Alex, my Patriots-obsessed 7-year-old son, could see his favorite team this season. He goes with his mother, who couldn't care less about football. The seats are lousy, up in the top tier above the corner of the end zone, and Alex wants to get closer to the players. Before the game I walk him down to the front row, which overlooks the tunnel where the Patriots enter and exit the field. Alex stretches his little arm over the railing, hoping some of the Patriots will slap hands with him as they come on and off the field during pregame warmups before they face the Saints.

The No.2 quarterback, who was No.1 for more than eight years until he lost his job because of a frightening injury, is still saying all the right things, even though he wishes his coach would take a flying leap. The No.1 quarterback, who has climbed the charts faster than a hit single, is also saying all the right things. But Tom Brady has the job because he's also doing them: Four touchdown passes and no interceptions Sunday against the Saints didn't hurt his case. Drew Bledsoe was 0-2 as a starter before getting hurt Sept.

The closest Bill Belichick will come to admitting he misled Drew Bledsoe -- forever damaging that trust -- is the coach's admission Wednesday that, "Maybe last week, maybe there was a little gap in the understanding of what an opportunity would be. ... Maybe I shouldn't have made the commitment to Drew" that he could try to win back his job this season. If Tom Brady becomes a very good starting quarterback, then Belichick will have won the bold -- some would say unnecessary -- gamble he took Tuesday, announcing that Brady is his quarterback for the rest of the season, "barring unforeseen circumstances."

Antowain Smith knows quarterback controversy and he is sure this isn't one. "When I was with Buffalo, the two guys didn't like each other," the Patriots running back said. "They were bickering. They were always talking about each other. Rob Johnson and Doug Flutie were fighting amongst each other. Here? Naw, there's no controversy." Damon Huard, the third card in the game of two-card monte, knows about this stuff, too. He replaced Dan Marino for a spell, won for a time and the South Florida noise grew.